Although the hypocritical decision that promotes the possibility of an investigation against Israel is disturbing, the more significant damage will occur if the legal pressure affects the commanders' conduct in the battle.
International Court of Justice in The Hague
Photo:
GettyImages
We were recently informed that the Hague tribunal is interested in deepening its activities in the context of investigating IDF fighting incidents in the territories. This "good news" is disturbing, and I do not mean the threatening aspect of the Hague judges towards IDF fighters and commanders.
It is disturbing because someone might understand that now that the Hague judges have "raised binoculars" towards the IDF, the procedures with the fighters must be tightened, their steps narrowed and the involvement of the military attorneys deepened.
As a sovereign state that has faced terrorist threats since its inception, with sub-state organizations of war criminals around us by every measure and reason, we have the moral and legal justification to act by force to protect ourselves.
The instructions to open fire on the IDF and the State of Israel routinely and in situations of war embody human standards that have no equal in this world. Some even say that we are too strict with ourselves.
But the big problem and fundamental threat in increasing the activity of lawyers in contact and combat spaces is the loss of trust of fighters in the righteousness of the road and in the backing required from their commanders, and above all those from the country in whose name and for which they are fighting.
Netanyahu: "International Court of Justice in The Hague investigates Israel for completely false war crimes" // Photo: PM spokeswoman
It would be a terrible mistake and a destructive distortion to impose on the warriors and commanders of the decrees over-control of jurists.
We are fighting an enemy that does not operate within our moral boundaries, an enemy that directs its deadly weapon against a civilian population at full force.
An enemy who rents body parts, an enemy whose last thing to say is that whoever confronts him commits war crimes.
The role of the state is to defend its military operations so that it can defeat a cruel enemy - and the road to victory does not pass through The Hague.
She goes through the training spaces and schools for training fighters and commanders.
In their focus, in their ability to exercise their abilities professionally and in their ability, inherently, to express the justification for firing: we have a moral army, and we are a moral nation - in that we are required to believe and yet act as required.
It is impossible to describe the mental anguish that a commander or a fighter goes through when his operational actions begin to be interfered with by factors that have no understanding on the battlefield and a fighter's coping with these challenges.
War is an ugly, unpleasant thing, largely unbearable.
But sometimes it is a necessary evil.
We use weapons to protect ourselves.
Protect our citizens and protect what we have built here in 72 years of independence.
Anyone who aims a weapon at civilians, develops weapons whose purpose is terrorism and distributes weapons to inhuman militias - bleeds in his head.
Plaintiff's Notice in Opening of a Criminal Investigation against Israel // Archive
This perception must be embodied not only in procedures and guidelines, it must be embodied in education that allows warriors the basic intelligence to distinguish between black and white - and act effectively even when there is gray, i.e. uncertainty.
In an era in which hundreds of thousands of missiles and rockets are aimed at Israel at close range, and they are in the hands of Hamas, Jihad and Hezbollah, those who build and use these and hide behind a civilian population must pay the full price if only they dare to realize this threat.
Do not deal with them in silk gloves - act against them with the full force at our disposal.
They must also understand this - the message must be clear to them.
If our soldiers hesitate to act out of fear of the judiciary, when they act in our defense and have any moral justification, there is no chance we will ever win.
It means we lose - and we can not afford that.
The writer is a former commander of an armored brigade, currently a military-social relations researcher
